The answer to both questions is (d). We are sadly unprepared for real winter weather. The bag of salt ran out a few years ago and never got replaced. We don't possess a shovel (we used to! where did it go?). We stopped bothering with de-icer spray or ice scrapers when we realised a jug of water does the job quickly and easily, but slipping and sliding all the way to the distantly parked car clutching a jug didn't seem all that practical. It's a good job we don't live in Alaska.

Last year Little Cherub was very wary of snow, but has moved on ... when she woke up and found snow on Monday she couldn't wait to get out there. "It's 'nowing! I want to make 'now balls! I want to go outside NOW!!!!". Her normal timidity asserted itself over snowmen, though. She watched The Snowman before Christmas, and was worried that any snowman could potentially come to life and pay her a visit ... "I not want to make 'nowman. I don't want 'nowman to come in my house!"

First question...Dust off the snow with a broom, and get out the skates.

Second question...I thought I was the only one who used a CD case for scraping snow. HEHEH! Those scrapers always go missing in the winter. In the summer, I find them and say, "This will come in handy in December!" and I put it away carefully, in the oubliette, apparently; I can never remember.

Seriously, we have already had two times the average snowfall for this time of year. Trip has never had a snow day, and seems to be confounded by weekend snows. He did have orchestra canceled one week. We are actually hoping for more snow.

LOL!Too funny about the snow man!You sound just like me when we lived in NC and had only the occasional snow. I usually just stayed home. If I had to go out I used my drivers license or library card to defrost the windshield. That just wont cut it any more.

It depends. In the Seattle area here, we almost never get snow on the ground longer than a day or two. Seattlites usually stay in and ignore the snow til the rain melts it the following day.

Except this year we had it for two weeks (some places in the hills still have several feet of snow blocking their roads and driveways).

So, after a week of slippery sidewalks, I finally went out and shoveled with the plastic garden spreader shovel. I cleared a path from the front door to the sidewalk and the sidewalk from edge to edge of our property. It snowed again the next day. BUT it was a lot easier to clear each time it snowed and I'm glad I did it. By the time the snow was 15"-18" deep, it was so much easier to walk on the shoveled path than on the deep snow.

Next I want to get a bag of salt to help my efforts. And a new shovel, because I finally broke the plastic one after about the fifth day of shoveling.

Tire chains were good for the side streets, but the highways were scraped and sanded, so unecessary there. Studded tires would be better.